This whole verse is a very long and complex rhetorical question that includes a summary of the history of the people of Israel. Even in those languages where rhetorical questions are commonly used, the form of this one may be too complex to reproduce. In such cases it will be better to formulate it as an emphatic statement that there is no other group on earth like the people of Israel. Good News Translation does so using three separate sentences. There are several textual problems in this verse, which will be noted below, and the many different ways that modern versions have translated this verse reflect the uncertainty regarding both the correct text and the correct meaning.

What other nation on earth: this seems to follow the reading of the ancient Greek, which has “another” where the Hebrew text has the word “one” qualifying the noun “nation.” If, however, the Hebrew text is followed, the translation will say something like New International Version, “the one nation on earth,” or New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, “a unique nation on earth.” The problem is handled similarly by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Anderson. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament advises that the reading “another” be followed here, giving a {C} rating to this reading. Whichever reading is followed, “one” or “another,” the meaning is essentially the same.

Whom God went to redeem: in the Hebrew the verb went is plural, and the subject of this verb is God, which is plural in form but of course is singular in meaning. The translators of the Septuagint text read the verb as singular with a direct object and rendered these words “God led him [Israel] to redeem him.” Compare New American Bible, “What other nation on earth is there like your people Israel, which God has led, redeeming it as his people.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, gives a {B} rating to the Hebrew text, and it should be followed here as in Revised Standard Version.

Since this prayer is addressed to God, it will be more natural in most languages to use the personal pronoun in place of the noun God, as Good News Translation has done. The use of the verb “to go” may also be unnatural if reproduced literally in the receptor language. This verb may, in fact, be unnecessary, since redeem is an active verb involving in this context deliverance from slavery. Knox brings out the meaning of the verb by translating “buy back.” In this context, however, God did not pay anyone. The idea of “liberation” or “deliverance” is in focus. Some possible model renderings of this clause are “set out to redeem” (Revised English Bible), “proceeded to redeem” (New Jerusalem Bible), or, without the additional verb but with a clear reference to Israel’s enslavement, “rescued from slavery” (Good News Translation). Note that the verb redeem here is the same in Hebrew as the one translated “ransomed” in 1 Sam 14.45. Compare also 2 Sam 4.9.

The implied reference to Egypt is made explicit in Good News Translation, but only at the end of the verse. It may be better to mention the land where Israel was enslaved earlier in the verse, where deliverance from slavery is talked about.

Making himself a name: the idiomatic expression “to make a name for oneself” will certainly need to be rendered by a different idiom in a number of languages. The idea is one of “great fame” or “wide reputation.” While some will say simply “became famous,” other languages will have unusual ways of expressing this idea, such as “gave reason to respect him,” “made his face recognized,” or “caused people to praise him.” Of course, if God is translated by the pronoun in the preceding clause, the pronoun here will be “yourself” rather than himself. David is praying directly to God.

It is possible to understand the pronoun rendered himself as referring to the nation of Israel collectively, that it, his people. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, following this interpretation, says “to give him [Israel] your name.” The sense will be that God has caused the people of Israel to become his special people. While this interpretation is possible, the parallelism with “to redeem for himself” suggests that the pronoun here should also be translated “for himself.”

Great and terrible things: because the modern meaning of the word terrible does not correspond to the meaning of the biblical term, New Revised Standard Version renders the word “awesome” (so also New International Version and Revised English Bible). The word involves the idea of causing respect, reverence, or admiration. Some other possible translations are “marvelous deeds” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “wonderful miracles” (New Century Version and Contemporary English Version).

By driving out: this follows the Septuagint, which is also followed by New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, and most modern versions. The Masoretic Text says “for your land,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) attempts to translate this text “… and doing great and marvelous deeds for them [and] for Your land—[driving out] nations and their gods before Your people.” But even New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is forced to place the verb “driving out” in brackets in the text. It is better to follow the recommendation of Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, which suggests that the Hebrew text contains an error, and gives a {C} evaluation to the Greek text.

Before his people a nation and its gods: these words are not part of the Hebrew text. Revised Standard Version (also New Revised Standard Version, Osty-Trinquet) has followed a conjecture by some scholars that this is what the text originally said. Some interpreters have argued that the subject of this entire verse was originally a pagan god, and that scribes later added the references to Yahweh (LORD) and to Israel and the redemption from Egypt. This conjecture is followed in New Jerusalem Bible:

• Is there another people on earth like your people, like Israel, whom a god proceeded to redeem, to make them his people and to make a name for himself by performing great and terrible things on their behalf, by driving out nations and their gods before his people?

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, claims that such a correction of the text is arbitrary, and urges translators to follow the Hebrew text here, giving it an {A} evaluation.

Its gods: the Septuagint and a manuscript from Qumran say “their tents.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, which gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text, suggests that “tents” represents a theological correction and should not be followed.

Traduction œcuménique de la Bible is one of the few modern translations that translates the entire Masoretic Text of this verse, but since it is a literal translation, it tends to confuse the reader by referring to God in both the second person and the third person:

• Is there on the earth a single nation such as your people Israel, this people that God went to redeem in order to make them his people, by giving himself a name and by accomplishing for you [plural = Israel] this great work and for your [singular = God] land terrible things, is there a nation comparable to your [singular] people whom you redeemed from Egypt, from this nation and its gods?

The following rather literal translation ofParola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente represents the text that Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends:

• And what nation is there on the earth like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be your people, to make yourself a name and to do for them great and awesome things, by driving out nations and their gods from before your people whom you liberated from Egypt?

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .